More and more countries are banning incandescent light bulbs in favor
of energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs. But options to
recycle the mercury-laden alternatives are often scarce.

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A variety of European Union recycling regulations make it unlawful for EU residents to dispose of CFLs in the trash. In the United States, some states are following suit,
though most localities rely on consumers to voluntarily mail the bulbs
back to manufacturers for recycling. In developing countries, recycling
is less available, and proper landfills often do not even exist in the
event that the bulbs are discarded as trash.

To reduce hazardous waste at its source, leading CFL manufacturers have
committed to reduce the mercury content of their products. Martin
Goetzeler, CEO of Munich-based Osram, said his company aims to cut the mercury content of its CFLs
by half in the coming years. "It should be part of any new technology
that hazardous substances are regulated," he said. "And we should use
the lowest levels [of toxins]."

CFLs presently contain between 2.5 and 3 milligrams of mercury, which
Osram will reduce to between 1.3 and 1.8 milligrams, Goetzeler said
Wednesday during a talk organized by the Worldwatch Institute.

General Electric is investing in
lower-mercury CFL technology as well. "If we can get [mercury] down to
1 milligram of mercury, that is a big breakthrough," Lorraine
Bolsinger, vice president of GE's ecoimagination unit, told reporters
last year,

Despite the mercury content, CFLs have emerged as one of the most
environmentally prudent indoor-lighting options. They use one-quarter
to one-fifth the electricity of incandescent bulbs, and can last about
10 times longer. Switching to CFLs is the most cost-effective way to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a McKinsey & Company analysis.

By saving energy, greater CFL usage also results in less coal-based
power generation. This is important when considering that the roughly 2
tons of mercury contained in the 380 million CFLs sold in the United
States last year was dwarfed by the 50 tons of mercury that U.S. coal
plants emitted into the atmosphere.

Osram is also developing bulbs with a longer lifetime, which chief
sustainability officer Wolfgang Gregor says would stall disposal and
therefore increase the bulbs' "mercury mileage. "Mercury down to zero
is impossible without a performance drop," Gregor said. "We can
increase the lifetime of the lamp with the same amount of
mercury-increasing the mercury mileage drastically."

Mercury, a neurological toxin, often leaches into the soil and
groundwater beneath landfills, or is incinerated into the air - unless
it is recycled. Osram has arranged CFL-recycling drop-off locations
throughout the European Union, and has also helped coordinate a mail-in
program with the U.S. Postal Service.
Goetzeler said recycling rates are as high as 80 percent in parts of
Europe, but the EU acknowledges that its recycling initiatives are
uneven in different regions. Recycling options have yet to be organized
in many other countries, especially those with much lower recycling
rates.

In recent years, a variety of industrialized and developing nations have mandated for incandescent bulbs to be banned
over time. In Australia, Italy, and the Philippines, for example, the
sale of incandescent light bulbs will be banned by 2010.

GE has opposed the bans because the company has been developing
mercury-free, super-efficient incandescent bulbs. But Osram's Goetzeler
says his company encourages consumers to abandon incandescent bulbs for
reasons of global sustainability, in addition to profits. "It's
technically feasible to save 50 percent of electricity [generated] for
lighting," he said. "If you want to save energy.... No excuse, you can
do it today."